Hi Gavin,

That’s great, if he’s good you have done very well. We usually charge around $4.5K for the planning and most architects/draftspeople will charge considerably more than this for the drawings.

Regards
Alistair

Hi Gavin,

That’s very cheap. In fact I would be questioning the quality of service you are going to get if this is for design and taking the application through planning.

A word of advice, design is not an area you want to skimp on, as it directly impacts the time it will take tom get a permit, the chance of you receiving a permit at all and the…[Read more]

how many townhouses / duplexes could i fit?

This is very much dependent on the particular block and the skill of your designer. The range of factors affecting what you can build is huge.

Sorry i can’t be more specific than this.

Regards
Alistair

Hi Alto,

I have a bit of a preference for Westpac amongst the majors, but there are many situations where they are not the best choice.

Regards
Alistair

Hi Nick,

I’ll second everything Richard stated, and add that their products are a pain in the proverbial. Their offset account “MISA” is not transactional i.e. you have to operate a seperate “Stremline account” as well for your day to day banking. There is also substantial channel conflict between Colonial and the CBA branch network, this means…[Read more]

Hi Katz,

When you are looking at price, be aware that commercial property is usuaully priced on a per sq m basis. Any commercial agent will be able to give you figures for your area, just make sure you don’t pay too much on a per sq m basis.

Also be aware that there are very large differences in interest rates etc between different lenders. Make…[Read more]

Hi Terry,

Town planning takes a minimum of 3 months, more likely 6 months if it doesn’t end up in VCAT. If you have to go to VCAT you’re looking at more like 9-12 months. As long as you have a good designer and town planner 12 months would be a reasonable time frame to budget for.

Regards
Alistair

My mortgage broker is saying that a trust (i will be using a HBT) cant get a loc doc loan. Is this correct?

No it’s not true. There are fewer choices when using a HDT, but there are still plenty of lenders who are fine with this structure.

Regards
Alistair

We dont use them much as the service levels are not the greatest once it gets to HQ here in Brisbane.

I agree completely with Richard. The rate you have negotiated is very good, but I think you will find it comes with a poisoned chalice.

Regards
Alistair

Hi spapas06,

I am also based in Melbourne CBD. I can’t give financial advice, but I have been involved in the property game for a long time and I’m always happy to chat about the subject. I’m also always looking for an excuse to get out of the office.

Regards
Alistair

There is a formula in Excel that will do this for you, type “PMT” into the help function of the program and it will explain how to use it.

Hi Charlie,

It is common that developers of sizable projects are not in a position to service their end debt, so lack of income is not really an issue in obtaining a loan. As long as there are good margins in your project and you put some money in (as a rule of thumb 20% of costs) you should have no problem getting a loan with the interest…[Read more]

Hi New Investor,

I know a bit about taxi plates because my brother co-authored a large report on the industry for the State Government a few years ago. Hios take on it is that there are a lot of changes that probably should be made in the industry, but it appears that not much will happen in the forseeable future.

Most people in the industry…[Read more]

Hi Peter,

The financing for larger projects sound pretty scary, but really its not if the project is good i.e. high profit margins. If you go in on a low profit margin eg 15% you will have trouble, unless you have very high presales or can service the end debt. If the margins are strong, 30% plus then its not that difficult.

As a rule you can…[Read more]

Ozi is correct, in Victoria there are no minimum land sizes. There are minimum land sizes below which you need a planning permit, and there are numerous provisions that need to be followed such as no. of car parking spaces and amount of private open space, which restrict the numbner and size of dwellings you can fit on a block.

Some advice for…[Read more]

Hi Bill,

If it is a resi contruction loan, most will lend against the end value. If it is a commercial lend they will take into account the percentage of costs they are funding and the percentage of end value. This is pretty standard amongst the big banks and secondary lenders.

Why don’t you post some details of what you are wanting to do and…[Read more]

Hi Bill,

Richard is correct, usually banks do look at what you put into any deal, but Gross Realisation value is the most important consideration. I suggest you go to a diffferent bank, or better a broker who has a bit of experience in this area.

Regards
Alistair

If your friend is serious about getting into developing tell them to find a good architect or draftsperson who has a lot of experience with unit developments. Speaking to council is fine, but if you don’t have a design to show them then nothing they say means much,

Also get them to have a look at http://www.dse.vic.gov.au and get familiar with planning…[Read more]

Hi Andrew,

To get exactly what you want yopu would probably have to look out West as you would struggle to find houses in the south and east, with land content, that close to the city in the price range given.

If you consider going a little further out, Cheltenham is worth considering. It has express trains both ways and so travel time would not…[Read more]

Hi Picklesam,

Because Steve McKnight has used the number of properties he purchased as a selling point, there are a lot of people on here who want to do the same. In my opinion, and I’m sure many people will disagree with me, buying a large number of residential properties is not a great goal. The only particularly wealthy people I know who own a…[Read more]